The headline was alarming: Roughly one-third of Big Ten student-athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 were found through cardiac MRIs to have myocarditis after contracting the disease.
It wasn’t entirely true, however. While Penn State athletics doctor Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli did make those comments to a group of school directors, what was left unsaid was that not all of the Big Ten student-athletes who were COVID-positive had undergone cardiac MRIs, and it wasn’t clear why those who did undergo the testing were chosen for it.
But doctors are seeing myocarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle, in COVID-19 patients, which should give us pause, especially when it comes to the desire of many to forge ahead with the FBS season in spite of the potential risks and unknowns.